DENVER (KDVR) — If you are looking for an activity to help keep your kids busy and learning at home, you can try this simple science experiment: how to make a sundial.
This classic science experiment is sure to bring your kids hours of entertainment and can be made with common household items.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Paper
- Glue
- Pen
- Pencil
- Paper plate
- Paper
- Compass
Instructions:
- Cut a circle in your construction paper and draw the clock numbers on it (you can also draw the numbers directly on the back of the paper plate if you want to skip the paper part)
- Glue your paper clock to the bottom of the paper plate
- Poke a hole through the center of your paper plate and stick your pencil through it so that it stands up
- Take your sundial outside and use a compass to make sure that the 12 is pointing north so that the time is accurate
- Because we are currently in daylight saving time, you will have to add an hour to whatever your sundial says the time is in order to get the correct time
How does it work?
Sundials were used to tell time long before clocks and phones were invented. A sundial tells time based on the position of the sun in the sky. Because of this, there needs to be sunshine in order to use one. As the position of the sun changes in the sky throughout the day, the shadows that the pencil or center of your sundial casts below (on the paper plate) will change as well. The shadows move in a circle around the center point and give a fairly accurate reading of the time of day.
